


perfect at every angle

by moon__goddess



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Kid!Jongin, Kid!Sehun, M/M, Workplace Romance, also workplace bromance, basically a cuteass office with all of sm as employees, established chansoo, established krisho, its fine he controls it, jongdae has a potty mouth, kid!zitao, office!AU, some swearing does occur, sometimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-04-12 09:33:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19129330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moon__goddess/pseuds/moon__goddess
Summary: jongdae's already been charmed by warm brown eyes and the deepest dimple he's ever seen.  what harm could a toddler do, other than make him fall even more in love?written forRock A Bye Fest Round 1 Prompt RB079





	perfect at every angle

**Author's Note:**

> ### Mod Notes
> 
> This work is written for the 2019 Rock A Bye Fic Fest: Round 1. We hope you enjoy! Make sure to give our writers all the love that they deserve~ Authors will be revealed on June 25!  
>  **Prompt:** RB079  
>  **Word count:** 7,739  
>  **Rating:** Teen  
>  **Pairing:** Yixing/Jongdae  
>  **Characters:** Yixing, Jongdae, Sehun, Junmyeon, Yifan, Zitao, Lu Han, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Jongin, other cameos  
>  **Side Pairings:** established Kris/Junmyeon, established Chanyeol/Kyungsoo  
>  **Warnings:** none!

Another day at the office, Jongdae thinks to himself, as he walks into his building.  The wind had ruffled his hair on his walk over from the train station, so he pauses to check his reflection in the silver of the elevator doors, smoothing it down so it’s not so messy.  He hits 12 and leans against the corner, silently contemplating his life as the elevator shoots upward.

He likes his job well enough, he supposes, although he never thought he’d be building complex systems and running support with his computer science degree - he’d originally intended to go into web design, but one of his old professors had recommended this startup to him as a potential job, and he’d walked into the interview and left with an offer to start the next week.  They pay him well, but not well enough where he can comfortably own his own place - he still rents, sharing his decently large apartment with his brother and their cat, but it’s in a great location and he can’t really complain. Well, he could, especially after he pays his monthly bills (which makes looking at his bank account _quite_ upsetting), but he won’t.  The work is surprisingly rewarding, and after two years at the company his coworkers are really starting to feel like a second family.

The elevator dings, doors hissing open, and Jongdae smiles as he steps out and heads into the office, making a beeline for his desk, hoping against hope that -

“Yah, you don’t even say hi to me now?” comes a voice, and Jongdae rolls his eyes as Byun Baekhyun, graphic designer, office gossip extraordinaire, and his best friend (or work husband, as he likes to call himself) leans out of his cubicle.  

“Good morning, Byun,” Jongdae snarks, flipping him off as he continues toward his desk.  

“Don’t do that!” Baekhyun shrieks, jumping out of his chair and covering Jongdae’s outstretched hand with his own.  “There are little eyes around!”

“Oh, fuck, that’s today?”

Baekhyun glares at him for ten seconds before Jongdae realizes his mistake.  “Shit, I meant - I mean, _Darn_ , I meant _oops_!”

The corners of Baekhyun’s mouth twitch as he struggles to maintain his straight face.  

Jongdae shoots him a glare of his own.  “Don’t make fun of me.”

“I wouldn’t _dream_ of it,” Baekhyun responds, his tone heavy with sarcasm.  

Jongdae rolls his eyes as he finally reaches his desk, dropping his bag next to his chair and hitting the power button on his desktop.  “You seen the boss man?” he asks, spinning lazily to face Baekhyun. “I kind of want to catch him before this craziness begins.”

Baekhyun tilts his head.  “Not yet, but you might be too late.  I heard Junmyeon brought Zitao in.”

Jongdae slumps in his chair.  “Dammit.”

“You know,” Baekhyun says, leaning on the wall of his cube, “you really have got to stop swearing so much.  It’s _unseemly_.”

“Jesus Christ, you sound like my mother,” Jongdae mumbles.  “And I will swear however much I want to, whenever I want to, so you can shut the hell up.”

“Jongdae!”  A scandalized voice rings out across the floor.  

Baekhyun grins evilly as Jongdae’s face slowly loses color.

“Zitao’s ears are precious, he can’t hear that kind of thing!”  

They both turn to see Luhan standing next to his office, looking shocked, his hands covering the ears of a tiny little boy.

“Oh please, Han,” comes another, deeper voice.  “You’d be surprised at what comes out of Junmyeon’s mouth at home.”

A tall, very handsome man in a leather jacket and jeans with platinum blond hair and a few piercings in each ear rounds the corner and grins when he sees Baekhyun and Jongdae’s stares.  “These two of yours, Han?”

“Unfortunately,” Luhan gripes, unlocking his door.  “Baekhyun, Jongdae, I don’t believe you’ve met Kris?”

“We most certainly have not,” Baekhyun says, eyeing the man and grinning.  “Where have you been _hiding_ him?”

Kris holds up a hand - a very large, strong hand - and flashes a wedding ring at them, right about the same time as a familiar voice says “He’s off the market.”

“Morning, Jun,” Jongdae says, grinning as all of the pieces suddenly fall into place.

Baekhyun gapes as Junmyeon laces his fingers with Kris’s.  “Wha - you - he - _rings_ \- Taozi -”

“Breathe, Baekhyun,” Luhan says, rolling his eyes.

Baekhyun flails in a surprisingly accurate imitation of a pufferfish (if that’s what he was going for) before he manages to say, “ _Y_ _ou’re_ the husband?”

Kris smirks.  “Glad to know my reputation precedes me.  Babe,” he continues, turning to Junmyeon, “what exactly have you been saying about me?”

“All good things,” Junmyeon answers, waving a hand.

“Deep voice, big softie, loves astronomy and basketball,” Jongdae says, counting on his fingers.  “He neglected to mention that you were… tall.”

“What Jongdae means,” Baekhyun adds, seemingly having regained his ability to speak, “is that our Myeonie never said _anything_ about him being married to such a -”

“My office door is open, Byun,” Luhan interrupts.  “And Zitao can hear you.”

Jongdae internally cheers, because he’s a hundred percent certain whatever Baekhyun was going to say would have been extremely inappropriate.

“A _snack_ ,” Baekhyun finishes, giving Junmyeon a huge wink.

Kris laughs, and his entire face transforms from something intimidating into complete adorableness.  Out of the corner of his eye, Jongdae sees the way Junmyeon’s face softens as he watches his husband, and it makes him happy for his friend, that he can see the love between them.  Of course, it also makes his own heart ache a little, but he pushes that feeling aside like he always does.

Still smiling, Kris leans over to Baekhyun and says, “That’s an accurate description, since Junmyeon does like to eat.”

“Kris!” Junmyeon says, scandalized, and Jongdae snorts as Baekhyun’s eyes widen.

“Oh my god, Jun, I love him,” he proclaims, clapping his hands together.  “Why haven’t you brought him around sooner?”

“For exactly this reason,” Junmyeon says, rolling his eyes.

“Appa,” comes a little voice, and all of them turn to where Zitao is holding onto Luhan’s pant leg, looking pleadingly at Junmyeon.

“Yes, Taozi?” Junmyeon says, crouching down to his son’s level.  

“Where’s Sehun?” Zitao asks quietly.

“I haven’t seen him yet, Taotao.”  Junmyeon straightens. “Do you want to come look for him?”

Zitao nods his head yes, and Jongdae can barely contain his squeal at how cute the kid is.

“Guess what,” Luhan says, gently untangling Zitao’s hands from his pants.  “Uncle Han has to find Sehunnie’s appa, too. So we can all go look together.”

Zitao clings to Luhan’s hand, looking relieved as Junmyeon ruffles his hair.  “C’mon, kiddo, let’s go find them.”

“Okay,” Zitao says, and the little smile he gives Junmyeon makes Jongdae clutch his chest.  The kid is too cute for his own good.

“Byeeee,” singsongs Baekhyun as they turn to walk away.  “Kris, you know where to find me.”

“Don’t you dare, Byun,” Junmyeon shoots back, masking the imminent death threat with a sunshiney smile.  

Luhan rolls his eyes.  “Hey Jongdae,” he says, “can you keep an eye on him?  And can you also send me those specs for the DBS project when you get a chance?”

“Anything for you, boss man,” Jongdae responds, giving him a tiny salute before turning back to his desk, just missing the knowing look Kris was now giving him.

 

Not even an hour later, he and Baekhyun are crouched over his desktop monitor, mumbling to each other about design aesthetic and color schemes as he finishes typing up the specs, when Luhan returns sans Kris, Junmyeon, and Zitao, but with someone else.  The reason Jongdae took this job. That someone else.

He hears Luhan say something about getting a new graphics person to round out their team and then his voice, that gorgeous, smooth voice, says, “I’d be happy to look into it for you.”

Baekhyun elbows him.  Hard.

“Ow,” Jongdae hisses, his face burning.  “What the hell was that for?”

Baekhyun wiggles his eyebrows.  “Your man is here.”

“Shut the fuck up.”  Jongdae glares at him before turning to look back at his screen.  He starts typing again, trying to fix the terrible layout of the main menu, when Luhan says his name from very close by, startling him and thus making him accidentally whack Baekhyun in the face.

“Jesus fuck, Luhan,” Jongdae pants, clutching his chest and ignoring Baekhyun’s groans.  “Don’t _do_ that to me.”

“Sorry,” Luhan says airily.  “Did you send me those specs?”

“Not yet,” Jongdae responds, feeling his face warm again as he feels another set of eyes on him.  “Baek and I were just fixing the menu before I sent it.”

“Okay.”  Luhan raises his eyebrows.  “Hurry up on that, I need it by eleven.”

“Got it,” Jongdae says as Luhan turns to head into his office, beckoning for the cause of Jongdae’s death (not really, but he might give Jongdae an actual heart attack one of these days so he might as well be) to follow him.

“Morning, Jongdae, Baekhyun,” he says with a grin, and the sight of that deep-as-fuck dimple is enough to make Jongdae want to keel over.

“Morning, Yixing,” Baekhyun chirps, not-so-discreetly elbowing Jongdae again.

“M-morning,” Jongdae manages, trying like hell to keep his blush down as he smiles briefly at him.

Yixing smiles back before he disappears into Luhan’s office, and as soon as the door closes Jongdae drops his head into his hands.

Baekhyun just starts laughing.

 

During the next couple of hours, Jongdae contemplates his situation while he fiddles with the code on another project.  He’s had a thing for Zhang Yixing, head of Human Resources and the Most Beautiful Human Being to Ever Exist, ever since he walked into that interview two years ago and saw him sitting there in a white button-up, sleeves pushed up to his elbows, black hair brushed down over his forehead.  And over the years it’s just gotten worse, with his stupid dimple and his stupid laugh and the stupid way his eyes light up when he talks to his coworkers and his stupidly broad shoulders and stupidly perfect face and stupidly intelligent comments.

Yeah.  Jongdae has it bad.

Baekhyun is the only person who knows just how bad, and he likes to make Jongdae’s life miserable by teasing him about it every chance he gets.  Which is way too often, in Jongdae’s opinion.

But he’ll gladly endure Baekhyun’s teasing if it means that Yixing never, ever finds out about his giant crush on him.  Jongdae had noticed the silver band on his finger a week into the job, and had subsequently noticed the lack of it a year later - which meant that even if the man was technically on the market again, that didn’t mean he was emotionally available.  And Jongdae would rather suffer in silence than get rejected. Again.

Yixing hasn’t rejected him (well, not yet, his brain helpfully supplies) but every other person he’s ever liked has at some point, and he’d really rather not relive that particular brand of heartbreak.

He’s distracted from his thoughts when his office calendar pings.  

“Ah, shit.”

“You and your sailor mouth,” Baekhyun calls from his cube.  “Why are you swearing again?”

Jongdae glances at the event notification again and groans.  “I forgot that we had that staff lunch today too. In 5 minutes, according to this.”

He hears something thunk and then Baekhyun is in his cube, staring at him in disbelief.  “You?” he asks, raising his eyebrows. “Forget about free food?”

“I know, I know, unbelievable,” Jongdae says, gesturing at his bag, “but I did.  Even brought leftover kimchi jjigae.”

Baekhyun tuts disapprovingly.  “Just put it in the office fridge for tomorrow.  I know Seulgi got the good stuff for today.”

“But… my jjigae,” Jongdae whines.  

“Come on, Jongdae,” Baekhyun says, reaching out to yank him from his chair.  “Food. And everyone’s kids will be there!”

“Ugh, fine,” he moans, letting Baekhyun pull him out of his cube and down the hall to the stairs.  Food and cute-ass children - his two biggest weaknesses.

 

They walk into the staff lounge and are immediately accosted by Amber and Sunyoung, who foist their little girl into Baekhyun’s arms before practically sprinting to the food table.  “Hello to you too,” Jongdae yells after them, and Amber quickly glances around to make sure no kids are looking at her before she flips him off. Sunyoung smacks her arm down and Jongdae cracks a smile.

“There’s my sunshine,” Baekhyun says, bouncing Krystal in his arms.  “Doesn’t he look like the sun?”

She nods, her eyes wide, and then reaches out to touch Jongdae’s face.  “Curly,” she says, her little finger carefully poking his cheek, and Jongdae grins harder.

Baekhyun turns his head to look around, and Krystal gets distracted by his dangly earring, twisting back towards him to try and catch it.  “Pretty,” she coos when she does, and Jongdae lets out a very undignified snort.

“Krystal, hon,” comes Amber’s voice, “what did Mama and I say about earrings?”

Krystal pouts instead of responding, and Baekhyun hands her back to Amber, being careful of the way his earring swings.

“Thanks, Baek,” Sunyoung says, rejoining them.  “I swear, you’re a natural.”

Baekhyun brushes off the compliment, answering, “Nah, it’s easy when you have a brother with three kids.”

“Oh, I didn’t realise Baekyoon had so many!”  Sunyoung smiles. “You’ve had so much practice.”

Baekhyun shrugs.  “I guess.” He slings an arm around Jongdae’s shoulders.  “I’ve got to get this kid some food, though,” he adds, grinning.  “He’s been whining all morning.”  Jongdae squawks in protest, but Baekhyun is already dragging him towards the food, waving at their coworkers.

“One of these days,” Jongdae says, straightening up as he grabs a plate, “I will murder you.”

“Eh.”  Baekhyun scoops some japchae onto his own plate.  “You’d miss me too much to actually do it.”

Jongdae points at him with the beef tongs he had just grabbed.  “Don’t test me, Byun.”

They make their way down the food table and over to a corner with a few empty armchairs, bickering the whole time, and only stop to actually eat what’s on their plates.

“God bless Seulgi,” Jongdae says with his mouth full.  “She always gets the best places for catering.” He shoots her a thumbs-up when he catches her eye, and she grins, waving back.

“I know, right?” Baekhyun responds, his mouth equally stuffed.  “She’s a miracle worker when it comes to events.”

Jongdae hums his agreement as he keeps eating, too focused on the food to give his friend a proper answer.  Thankfully, Baekhyun is similarly single-minded, and they eat in peace for a while, occasionally remarking on their favorites.

“What are you two doing over here, being all anti-social?”  Jongdae looks up from his plate to see Junmyeon leaning against his chair, arms crossed, a half-smile on his face.

“We’re eating,” Baekhyun mumbles through his current mouthful of food.  

Junmyeon rolls his eyes.  “C’mon, you two need to actually talk to people.  That’s the point of these all-staff luncheons, to foster a better, more friendly community and happier working atmosphere.”

“Where’d you get that spiel?” Baekhyun says, swallowing and raising an eyebrow.

“Xing’s words, not mine,” Junmyeon replies, and Jongdae chokes a little bit.

Baekhyun smirks at him as Junmyeon looks around, so he mouths “I’ll kill you” and watches as Baekhyun just rolls his eyes in response.

“Get up, you two,” Junmyeon says.  “We have to go save my husband from Chanyeol.”

“I’d always be down to save your hubby,” Baekhyun leers, grinning, and Jongdae whacks him as he stands up so Junmyeon doesn’t have to.

They follow Junmyeon over to where Chanyeol is standing next to his husband, Kyungsoo, gesticulating wildly as he talks to Kris, who looks amused and also slightly nervous.

“Yah, Park Chanyeol, stop waving those giant ass hands around before you knock someone the fuck out,” Jongdae says as they approach.

Chanyeol breaks off mid-sentence to grin at the three of them.   “Hi guys!”

“You’re lucky the kids aren’t here, Jongdae,” Kyungsoo says, offering them a quick smile.  “Otherwise I’d have to kill you for swearing.”

“Hey,” Jongdae complains, holding his hands up, “it’s not like you two have the cleanest vocabulary!”

“Only at night,” Kyungsoo says sweetly, which makes Chanyeol turn bright red and start sputtering protests, and the rest of them burst into laughter.

They chat a little more as they head towards the kids’ play area, Chanyeol updating everyone on the most recent marketing convention, hands still flying through the hair as he speaks.

He finishes right as they reach the rubber floor mats, and three little boys look up.  “Appa!” shrieks one of them, toddling over to Chanyeol.

“Hi, Jonginnie,” he rumbles, mussing the kid’s dark hair.  “Are you having fun?”

The boy nods before he notices the rest of them and immediately hides behind Kyungsoo’s leg.

Jongdae notes that one of the other two boys is Zitao, and he’s pulling the third along, headed straight for Kris and Junmyeon, before he crouches down to the boy’s level.

“Hi there,” he says quietly, and he’s rewarded with a peek around Kyungsoo.  “My name’s Jongdae,” he adds, flashing a quick smile. “I’m a friend of your dads.”

Kyungsoo grins.  “You can introduce yourself, Nini,” he says.  “Jongdae is nice.”

Big brown eyes blink at him for a second.  “I’m Jongin,” the little boy says, his voice soft.

“How old are you, Jongin?”Jongdae asks, smiling at him again.

Jongin holds up two fingers with the hand that’s not still clutching Kyungsoo’s pants.  

“Wow, you’re two?” Jongdae says, gasping a little.  “You’re growing so well!” He pretends to fall back in surprise, getting a giggle out of Jongin.  “Do you know what my favorite thing to do was when I was your age?”

Jongin shakes his head no.

Jongdae leans closer to him like he’s about to tell him a secret.  “I liked to build things,” he stage-whispers. “Do you like blocks, Jonginnie?”

Jongin nods, a smile appearing on his face, and he lets go of Kyungsoo to point at the pile of blocks and Legos on a mat behind them.  “Me ‘nd Taotao ‘nd Sehunnie have some,” he says.

Jongdae gasps again.  “Can I see what you built?” he asks, pointing towards the blocks too.

Jongin’s smile grows and he reaches for Jongdae’s hand, nodding.

Jongdae lets the kid lead him towards the blocks, catching Kyungsoo’s eye and sharing a grin as he goes.

He sits down, folding his legs underneath him as Jongin starts to babble about the blocks, and Jongdae can’t help the soft smile that makes its way across his face as Jongin giggles some more.  He reaches for a stray block and starts assembling small towers, getting Jongin to help him, and soon they have a veritable maze of blocks around them. Jongdae leans over to grab a toy car that was left on an adjacent mat, and starts running the car all around and in between the towers, Jongin watching as he maneuvers.  

“Do you want to try, Jonginnie?” Jongdae says, grinning.  

Jongin makes grabby hands at the car, so Jongdae rolls it over to him and watches as Jongin starts to roll it around, pushing it too far and crawling after it before sending it back towards Jongdae.  The car bumps his foot and Jongdae groans, rolling backwards, and starts making funny faces as he whines in fake pain, making Jongin laugh.

Jongdae rolls back towards Jongin and stops as he sees two small pairs of feet close to his head.  He looks up to see Zitao and the other little boy they were playing with watching him, Zitao looking confused, the other boy openly giggling.

“Sehunnie!  Taotao!” Jongin says, still laughing a bit.  “Play wit’ us!”

“Who’re you?” Zitao says, loooking at Jongdae, who just smiles and sits up.

“I’m Jongdae,” he answers.  “We’re playing a game with blocks!”

The other boy - Sehun, most likely - immediately sits down next to Jongin.  “I like blocks,” he says, so seriously Jongdae almost bursts into laughter. “How d’you play?”

“Lke this,” Jongdae says, leaning over to take the car from where Jongin had left it next to a five-block tower.  “You want to get the car to the other side without hitting a tower. ‘Cause if you do…” He pauses and looks between the boys.  “The tickle monster -” he wiggles his fingers “- will come after you!”

Sehun gasps and Zitao and Jongin both explode into giggles.  

“Whoever doesn’t have the car,” Jongdae continues, “has to build more towers!”

Zitao sits down and grabs the closest block to him.  “I wanna build a tower,” he proclaims.

“I do too,” Jongin says, getting another couple of blocks.

Sehun takes the car.  “Zoom!” he exclaims, shoving it towards Jongdae and watching it roll.  It doesn’t make it all the way to Jongdae’s leg, so he smiles and pushes the toy back towards Sehun, letting it coast across the mat.  Sehun smiles back, his grin lighting up his whole face, and yells “Zoom!” again, practically throwing the car into a tower that Jongdae had carefully constructed earlier.

The car hits the bottom block with a tinny little thump, making the orange block on top wobble before it finally topples to the ground.

“You hit the tower, Sehunnie,” Jongdae announces, stretching his hands out.  “Heeeeere comes… the tickle monster!” He wiggles his fingers, extending his arms out for him, and Sehun shrieks with laughter, scrambling back and out of Jongdae’s reach.  

“Here I come!” Jongdae says, pushing himself to his knees and trying to reach him again.  Sehun’s giggles continue as he toddles away from Jongdae’s constantly moving fingers, his little feet taking him right past Zitao and Jongin and their ten-blocks-high tower, and suddenly Jongdae’s chasing the three of them around the play area, his grin never leaving his face because their screams of laughter are so infectious.  

He finally closes in on Sehun after trying (and failing) to get Zitao - that kid is _fast_ , no wonder Junmyeon is in such great shape if he has to chase him around the house - and scoops him into his arms before he can run straight into a table (he’s too busy watching Jongdae and giggling to remember to look where he’s going, and Jongdae’s eternally thankful he got him before he smacked his head or something).  “Got you,” he crows, and Sehun squeals with laughter, squirming in his hold as Jongdae tickles his sides.

Sehun falls limp after a moment, still giggling, and Jongdae carefully puts him down before grinning at him.  The kid grins back and then his gaze catches on someone behind Jongdae.

“Baba!” he exclaims, running over to whoever’s behind him, and Jongdae turns around to see none other than Zhang Yixing himself crouching down to meet him.

“Hi, Sehunnie,” he says, smiling at his son (his son!!!!) before he straightens and notices Jongdae.  “Were you having fun?” he asks, the question directed at Sehun, but his eyes are trained on Jongdae - and there’s something unreadable in his gaze.

“Baba, gege chased me,” Sehun says, pointing at Jongdae, who raises his hands in mock surrender.  “Gege tickled me too!”

“Gege, hm?” Yixing says, raising an eyebrow.

“He came up with that one,” he responds, flushing slightly.

Yixing flashes him a smile before looking back down at his son.  “Sounds like you had fun with Jongdae, Sehunnie.”

“Mhm!” Sehun nods vigorously.  “He looks like a kitty, baba, see?”

Jongdae watches Yixing’s throat bob as he swallows.  “What do you mean? Jongdae is a person, Sehunnie.”

Sehun shakes his head.  “Gege looks like a kitty.”  He pouts and pulls his hand away from his father.  

Jongdae smiles.  He’s heard this particular comparison before, first by his brother, then by his friends in high school and college, and also from a number of people he’s dated.  It’s the combination of his high cheekbones, the way his lips curl up at the corners, and his almond-shaped eyes.

“See?”  Sehun points at Jongdae again.  “Kitty.”

Yixing coughs.  “If you say so, Sehunnie.” His voice sounds a little off, and Jongdae glances at him, worried, only for Yixing to immediately look down at his kid.  “Come on, kiddo,” he says, holding out his hand for Sehun to take once again. “Let’s get you some dessert.”

“Okay, baba!”  Sehun turns around and waves at Jongdae.  “Bye, kitty gege!”

“Bye, Sehunnie,” Jongdae says, waving back.

Yixing looks over his shoulder and they lock eyes for a brief moment.  Yixing smiles, giving Jongdae a glimpse of that dimple, and then he turns back to his son and their quest for dessert.  As they walk away, Jongdae hears Sehun say “Baba” as the prelude to a question, and when Yixing turns to gaze at his son, his face shining with love and adoration, Jongdae feels his heart skip several beats and then sink.

 

It doesn’t take long for Baekhyun to find him after that, as he’s leaning on a wall in the corner, a bowl of half-melted ice cream in his hands as he watches Yixing interact with Sehun and the other kids.

“Really?” Baekhyun says, clicking his tongue in disbelief.  “Moping?”

“I’m not moping,” Jongdae grumbles.

“You sure? Because that’s what it looks like.”  Baekhyun follows his gaze to where Yixing is standing with Junmyeon, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Luhan, their three kids giggling together as they make a mess of their ice cream.

“Why are you over here moping, anyway?” he asks.  “I saw you talking to him earlier. Along with one of those adorable little monsters.”

“Hey, Sehun isn’t a monster,” Jongdae says, feeling indignant.  “He’s just adorable.”

Right then, Yixing looks down at the kids and sees the mess they’ve made.  He bursts out laughing, and Jongdae feels his heart flip in his chest at the sight of the pure joy and love on Yixing’s face as he leans down to wipe Sehun’s face.

“Waaaaait,” Baekhyun says, his eyes darting between Yixing and Sehun and then Jongdae.  “Is that…”

“Yeah.”  Jongdae sighs.  “His son.”

Baekhyun blinks for a second and then turns to look Jongdae squarely in the face.  “And this is a problem because why, exactly?”

Jongdae exhales heavily.  “He has a son, Baekhyun! I can’t get in the middle of that, it would be emotionally impossible.”

“Why?”  Baekhyun glances at Yixing and then back at him.  “He’s divorced, there is literally nothing stopping you.”  He smirks. “You could be the second husband of his dreams,” he teases.

“Oh, fuck off,” Jongdae says, rolling his eyes.  “Besides, I don’t even know if he swings the other way at all.”

“He does,” comes a new voice.  Jongdae glances over his shoulder and does a double take when he sees Kris there.

“I presume we’re talking about Yixing?” he adds, and Baekhyun snorts.

“We haven’t even known you for more than four hours and you already know,” he cackles.  “Dae, you’re _unbelievably_ obvious.”

Jongdae is speechless, still gaping like a fish at Kris.

“To be fair,” Kris says, shrugging a little bit, “it wasn’t just him.  Let’s say I had some outside information.”

“From WHO?” Baekhyun gasps.  Kris just smiles mysteriously.

“Hold on a second,” Jongdae says, ignoring Baekhyun and focusing on Junmyeon’s husband.  “How do you know Yixing… y’know, likes men?”

“I’ve known him since college,” Kris says, grinning.  “The man is as bisexual as can be.”

“Oh.”

Baekhyun elbows him in the ribs.  “I told you,” he crows. “I told you so!”

“You are such an asshole,” Jongdae mumbles as he shoves him away.

“Wait, if you knew Yixing in college,” Baekhyun says after recovering, “did you meet Junmyeon then too?  Cause I remember him saying that he met Yixing in college.”

Kris bursts into laughter, his smile wide enough to see his gums.  “You could say that,” he chuckles. “Yixing introduced us.”

Baekhyun claps his hands together, but before he can say anything Kris adds, “But that is a long, convoluted story for another time.”

“What is?” comes Junmyeon’s voice.  

“How we met,” Kris says, intertwining their fingers and pressing a kiss to the back of his hand.

Baekhyun fake-gags and Jongdae rolls his eyes, feeling that phantom ache once again.

“Are you embarrassing me in front of my coworkers, Kris?” Yixing says, approaching their little group with Sehun and Zitao in tow.

“I could never,” Kris deadpans.

“Stop lying to my face,” Yixing fires back.  “And in front of the children!”

“Gege!” Sehun yells, glomping onto Jongdae’s leg (and almost making him fall over).  “Come and play again!”

Jongdae grins down at him.  “Hi, Sehunnie,” he says, ruffling the boy’s hair.  “Gege is tired after chasing you so much earlier.”

Sehun pouts up at him.  “But I wanna play with gege,” he responds.  “Please?”

Yixing grins.  “Baobei, stop giving Jongdae that look.”  Jongdae glances up and locks eyes with him.  “Sehun has mastered the pleading puppy eyes,” he explains, rubbing the back of his neck.  

“I can tell,” Jongdae says, smiling as he looks back down at Sehun, who has redoubled his pout, fingers clasped around his leg.

Clearly, he has no backbone, because after a few more seconds of looking at Sehun’s pout he relents.  “Alright, fine, you little monster,” he says, grinning ruefully at Yixing. “You better run from… the monster-catcher!”  He reaches for Sehun, fingers wiggling madly, and Sehun shrieks, letting go of his leg to scamper off towards the play area.

Jongdae chases him around the mats, Sehun’s infectious giggles making him laugh as well, and when he finally wraps Sehun in his arms and swings him around a few times he doesn’t feel tired anymore.  Of course, this is when Sehun decides, after giggling for a minute, to say, “Gege, I wanna play somethin’ else.”

“Okay, Sehunnie,” Jongdae says, sitting down and glancing around at what’s been left out for the kids.  “Do you want to play with blocks?”

“Mm-mm.”  Sehun shakes his head.

“Then… a game?” Jongdae asks, pointing at the small stack of board games.

Sehun shakes his head again.

“What about with the cars?”

That takes him a minute, but he shakes his head again.  “I wanna play _that_ ,” he says, pointing at a box a couple feet away.

Jongdae reaches for the indicated box.  “A puzzle?” he asks, just to make sure.

Sehun nods.  “Puzzle,” he repeats, and holds his hands out for the pieces.

Jongdae opens the box and dumps the pieces out in front of them.  There are about 300 pieces, and Sehun immediately starts grabbing all the ones that are blue.  “Sky pieces,” he says, pointing at the picture on the box.

“So smart, Sehunnie,” Jongdae says, ruffling his hair again.  “I’m going to get the edges, okay?”

“Okay,” Sehun says happily, already shoving pieces together.

They work in silence for a few minutes, Jongdae alternating between actually putting side pieces together and watching Sehun.  He’s surprised by how much of the sky Sehun’s put together already, but he supposes intelligence runs in his genes. He looks back at his frame and notices a piece by Sehun’s foot that he needs.  “Sehunnie,” he says, “can you pass me that piece?”

Sehun looks around for a second before he spots the piece Jongdae was talking about.  He picks it up and brings it over to Jongdae carefully. “Do you see where it goes?” Jongdae asks him.  Sehun scans the frame, and Jongdae grins when his eyes light up and he points to the right spot. “That’s right!”

“Can I put it in?” Sehun asks, and Jongdae nods.  Sehun pushes the piece into place and smiles.

Between the two of them, they make quick work of the puzzle, Jongdae cheering whenever Sehun finds a piece for him, and when it’s finished they share a grin.

“Gege, I’m tired,” Sehun whines, flopping down on the mat next to him and laying his head on Jongdae’s leg.

“Let’s get you back to your baba, then,” Jongdae says.

“Wanna sleep here,” Sehun mumbles, already sounding drowsy.  “With kitty gege.”

Jongdae sighs.  “C’mon, Sehunnie.  Time to go.”

“Mm-mm,” Sehun says, shaking his head as he curls up closer to Jongdae.  “‘M tired.”

“Then you have to go back to baba,” Jongdae explains.  “I don’t want him to think…” He trails off as Sehun shakes his head again, eyes drifting shut.  

“Baba… likes… kitty gege,” he murmurs.  

Jongdae’s heart jumps into his throat.  “W-what?” he whispers.

“I… like… kitty gege, too," Sehun continues, nuzzling closer.

Jongdae glances down at him.  His heart pangs as he watches Sehun’s eyelashes flutter against his cheekbone as his breathing slows.  “I like you too, baobei,” he murmurs, using the pet name Yixing had called Sehun before. “And I like your baba.”

They stay like that for a minute, Sehun calmly sleeping against him, Jongdae carefully running his fingers through his hair, before his leg starts tingling with the telltale signs of a cramp.

“Fuck,” he whispers, gently lifting Sehun off him so he can stretch his leg out.  The rest of his body creaks in protest (God, he’s getting old), so he slowly stands up, unfolding himself from that awkward position, and then scoops Sehun up.  The kid doesn’t wake, instead nestling closer to him, so he shifts the weight in his arms and starts off to find Yixing.

 

He stumbles across him and Baekhyun chatting by the refrigerator, and Baekhyun’s eyes go comically wide when he sees Jongdae with an armful of Sehun.  Jongdae sends him a death glare before turning to Yixing. “He fell asleep,” he explains, peering around Sehun’s full head of hair to see Yixing looking at his child fondly.  “Figured I’d bring him back.”

“Thank you,” Yixing says, smiling at him.  Jongdae’s eyes catch on his dimple and he glances away hastily before he can turn an embarrassing shade of pink.  “He’s got a blanket in my office, I can show you where.” He motions for Jongdae to follow him. “I’ll see you later, Baekhyun!”

Jongdae makes to walk away when Baekhyun grabs his shoulder.  “Even his _kid_ likes you,” he hisses.  “Just give it a chance, okay?”

Jongdae manages to shrug him off without waking Sehun.  “Fuck off,” he hisses back. “Let me make my own decisions, god.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes.  “Whatever. I just want you to be happy.”

Jongdae ignores that and follows Yixing out of the staff lounge.

They head toward the elevators, and Jongdae is hyperaware of Yixing next to him, walking in time with him, Yixing whose body heat is warming his whole side, Yixing whose kid he has in his arms.  The silence is comfortable, but Jongdae keeps turning Baekhyun’s words over and over in his head, and the urge to blurt out his feelings is growing stronger every time he does.

To combat that, he breaks the silence with, “He’s a smart kid.”

Yixing glances at him.  “Yes, he is. Got it all from his mother.”

“Aish, don’t say that,” Jongdae says, mock-glaring at him.  “You’re one of the smartest people I know, I’m positive it came from you.”

Yixing huffs a laugh.  “Thanks, Jongdae,” he says, running a hand through his hair.  They keep going, and when they reach the elevator bank Yixing reaches out and hits up.  The elevator dings almost instantly, the doors sliding open, and Jongdae diligently follows him inside, watching as Yixing presses 13.

The elevator starts upward and Jongdae shifts Sehun on his shoulder so his hold is a little more comfortable.  “Oh, are you alright holding him?” Yixing asks, turning to face him. “I’ve tried to get him to stop eating so many sweets…”

“Oh, he’s fine,” Jongdae says, laughing a little.  “Not heavy at all.” He’s telling the truth - Sehun is much lighter than the weights he lifts on a regular basis, so carrying him is easy.

Yixing raises his eyebrows but before he can respond, the elevator dings and the doors open on floor 13.  He steps out and Jongdae follows him down the hall and into his corner office. Yixing pulls out a blanket from a bag by his desk and gestures for Jongdae to put Sehun down in the armchair.  He does, gently, and his arms brush Yixing’s as he straightens. Yixing covers Sehun with the blanket and then turns to Jongdae.

“He really likes you,” he says, and Jongdae feels the blood rush to his face.  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him take to anyone so well.”

Jongdae shrugs, trying to force his blush back down.  “He’s a sweet kid,” he responds. “Lots of love in his heart.”

Yixing smiles.  “That’s good to hear.”

“You’ve done a great job with him,” Jongdae continues, clasping his hands together so he doesn’t do something stupid like touch Yixing’s face.  “He’s smart, sociable, playful…” Yixing’s eyes are trained on him, and Jongdae just keeps rambling. “He’s good with the other kids, he’s funny, and he’s already adorable so if he got even half of your good looks he’ll be handsome when he’s older.”

Something flashes in Yixing’s gaze and Jongdae realizes what he just said.

“Uh, that’s not to say that you aren’t, um, that is, uh, I just, I have eyes, and you’re really handsome, like from all sides too, almost like you’re perfect at every angle, and I should stop talking now wow.”  Jongdae manages to close his mouth and immediately turns on his heel. “I’m going to go back to my desk and hide in eternal shame because I can’t control my feelings,” he mumbles. “See you later.”

He makes it out of Yixing’s office before the man can formulate a response, but as he’s closing the door to the west stairwell he swears he hears Yixing shout, “Jongdae, wait!”

He half-expects Yixing to follow him, but he doesn’t.  

 

Jongdae spends the rest of the day buried in his work, large noise-canceling headphones on, not even looking up from his computer screen when Baekhyun walks past his cube with Kris and Zitao in tow.  (He only knows that’s who he’s with because Baekhyun’s voice could wake a dead man, it’s that loud.)

The clock finally hits 5 and he immediately hits save on the project he’s currently coding so he doesn’t lose anything before he shuts down his computer, grabs his bag and his jacket, and hightails it out of the office before he can run into anyone.

Well, almost.

He hits down at the elevator bank (he’s active, sure, but he’s exhausted and absolutely does not want to climb down twelve flights of stairs thank you very much), surreptitiously glancing around to make sure no one else appears, and slides into the elevator that dings opens without much thought - until he realizes that the button for the lobby has already been pressed, there are other people in the elevator with him, and one of those people is tugging on his pant leg, shouting, “Kitty gege!”

“Fuck,” Jongdae says under his breath, before he looks down at Sehun.  “Hi, Sehunnie!”

“Gege, you didn’t come play with me,” Sehun pouts.  “I woke up ‘n’ you were gone!”

Jongdae is speechless.  He’s normally good with kids and resistant to their pouts, but there is something about Sehun’s face (and the memory of the incident that made him leave) that makes him feel abnormally guilty.  “I… uh, I -”

“Jongdae had to do his work, baobei,” Yixing says from behind him.  “He was busy.”

Jongdae freezes.

“Yeah,” he says, his voice only slightly shaky, “I had a lot of work to get done.  I’m sorry, Sehunnie.”

Sehun pouts again and turns away from him.

“How about this, Sehunnie,” Jongdae says soothingly, crouching down as the elevator stops on the sixth floor to accept one more person.  “The next time you come to work with your baba, I’ll let you hang out with me the whole time, hmm? Does that sound good?”

Sehun slowly turns back around and Jongdae grins at him.

He giggles and nods in response and Jongdae breathes a huge sigh of relief.

It doesn’t last very long, though, because as the elevator comes to a halt and the doors open, letting the group of them spill out into the lobby, Sehun says, “Baba, can I come to work tomorrow?”

Yixing looks as shocked as Jongdae feels.  “You can ask Uncle,” he says, pointing towards the door, and Jongdae follows his gaze to see Junmyeon waving at them - or maybe not, because Kris steps around them, holding a napping Zitao, and smirks at the two of them before heading towards his husband.

Sehun pads after Kris, his little legs motoring acrosss the lobby as he yells “Unca Jun!  Unca Jun!” Jongdae smiles as he watches him, but then he realizes that he and Yixing are once again walking side by side in time with each other, no one else around them for the moment, and he needs to escape immediately.

He looks at the floor and hoists his bag higher on his shoulder.  “I’ll get going,” he mutters. “See you later, Yixing.”

He makes to speed up his pace and leave, but Yixing catches his forearm.  “Wait,” he says urgently, and Jongdae turns around.

Yixing gently lets go of him.  “I… I just wanted to say thank you,” he starts, twisting his hands in the fabric of his sweater.  “For watching Sehun earlier. He really likes you.”

Jongdae huffs.  “I know he does,” he says.  “You said that before.  And it was no trouble.” He makes to go when Yixing coughs.

“No, you don’t understand.”  Jongdae watches as he twists the fabric harder, his gaze jumping from the floor to the strap of Jongdae’s bag to the wall.  “It… it’s hard, I guess, for Sehun to interact with new people. After, um, his mother… after she left. He doesn’t… trust… very well.”  Yixing swallows. “And to have him trust you, so quickly… I…”

“I get it,” Jongade says, holding up a hand.  “I’m happy he trusts me, really. It’s cute. And he’s a good kid, he’ll keep getting better the more people he meets.”  He shrugs. “I’m sorry if it makes you upset, but…”

“Upset?”  Yixing looks at him, surprise written all over his face.  “Why would I be upset? I’m overjoyed that he trusts you!”  He takes a step closer to Jongdae. “If I could have picked anyone in the office for him to trust, especially enough to continually beg me to let him play with you for the rest of the afternoon, it would have been you.”

Jongdae blinks.  “M-me?” He points to himself.  “Why?”

Yixing’s knuckles go white on the edge of his sweater before he exhales heavily.  “Because… because I want him to trust the person I like.” He swallows and meets Jongdae’s shell-shocked gaze.  “I like you, Jongdae. I like you a lot. And I know it’s unconventional, but I hope that you’d give Sehun a chance.  Give _me_ a chance.”

“O-oh.”  Jongdae blinks at him again.  “You… you do? You really… like me?”

Yixing sighs.  “Yes, I do. And it’s okay if you say no, really.  I understand that it’s a lot.”

“What?  Oh, nononononono,” Jongdae sputters.  “I…” It’s his turn to swallow. “I, uh, I like you too.  In case that wasn’t obvious.” He feels himself turning red and covers his face with his hands.

“Hey,” Yixing says, taking hold of Jongdae’s wrists and tugging his hands down.  “If… if you want,” he adds, letting go of one of Jongdae’s hands but not the other, sliding his hand down to intertwine their fingers, “you could, um, come over for dinner.  Tomorrow.  Because I guarantee Junmyeon will have figured out how to say no to Sehun coming to the office, and he’ll be insufferable until he knows when he’ll see you next.”

“I…”  Jongdae can’t get over how nicely Yixing’s hand fits with his, how comfortable it is, how steady and strong his fingers are.  “If - if that’s okay,” he stumbles to say, “that is, with Sehun, then, uh, I would love to.”

“Great.”  Yixing grins, and maybe Jongdae falls a little more in love with him at the sight.

They reach the door, where Junmyeon is now trying to pry Sehun and Zitao apart.  “Come on, Sehunnie,” Yixing says, and at his father’s voice Sehun automatically lets go.  “You have to say bye now, we need to go home and I’m sure Taozi does too.”

“Bye, Taozi,” Sehun says, waving as he holds on to Yixing’s leg.  

Junmyeon takes hold of Zitao’s hand.  “I’ll see you two tomorrow,” he says, glancing at them.  “And I’m sure I’ll see you soon, Sehunnie!”

“Byeeeee,” Sehun responds.  

Junmyeon shoots Yixing another look.  “Text me later,” he says, and then a black SUV honks from outside.  He and Zitao wave again as they hurry out and climb inside the car.

“Baobei,” Yixing says, “what did Uncle Junmyeon say?”

“He said no,” Sehun pouts.  “But I wanna play with kitty gege again.”

“His name is Jongdae-gege, not kitty gege,” Yixing corrects.  “And what if he came over to our house instead?”

Sehun gasps.  “Today?”

“Ah…”  Yixing glances at Jongdae.  “We were thinking tomorrow, baobei.  Jongdae-gege has to go to his house, too.”

“But you’re holding Daedae-gege like me,” Sehun complains (and Jongdae doesn’t try to correct him again, that attempt on his name was so cute).  “And that means we’re going home. That’s what you said!”

Jongdae glances down and realizes that he and Yixing are still holding hands.

Yixing notices the same thing.  “Ah, well…”

Jongdae looks at him.  His eyes are panicked, trying to think of something to say, and Jongdae just wants to make him calm, make him happy, make his sadness and pain go away, so he blurts out, “You’re right, Sehunnie, I am coming tonight.”

Yixing’s eyes widen for a split second before he nods along.  

“Yay!” Sehun screams, letting go of Yixing to come and hug Jongdae’s leg instead.  “Daedae-gege!”

“Yes, yes, thank you, Sehunnie,” Jongdae says, laughing a little.

Yixing laughs too.  “Come on, baobei,” he says, squeezing Jongdae’s hand as he reaches for Sehun.  “Let’s go home.”

Jongdae can’t help the smile that blooms on his face as they walk out of the building, he and Yixing still holding hands.  Yixing and his son might not have been what he was looking for originally, but he thinks they’re worthy recipients of all his love and more.

**Author's Note:**

> i loved writing for this fest so much!  
> thank you to the wonderful mods for running such a cute fest~ you guys are great ♥  
> thank you to my friends who listened to me yell about writers block until i had an idea you guys keep me going and i love you all ^^  
> and i hope all of you readers enjoyed this fluffy xingdae piece~  
> ♥
> 
> [tumblr](https://yixingminseokjongdae.tumblr.com) | [twitter](https://twitter.com/allforexot9) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/moon_goddess)


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